


Jealousy is a gray and white kitten

by Elemental_sorceress1



Series: Hello Dolly [15]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-05
Updated: 2013-08-05
Packaged: 2017-12-22 13:32:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/913771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elemental_sorceress1/pseuds/Elemental_sorceress1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Phil brings home a small kitten, Dolly becomes jealous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jealousy is a gray and white kitten

It had been storming unexpectedly for two hours when Phil came home soaked, dripping on the carpets, hair plastered to his head. Clint sighed and slumped in relief onto the couch from where he had been starting to wear a line into the carpet from his worried pacing. Phil had been an hour late from work and after Fury called saying Phil had been sent out to get a bad guy and that he'd be home in half an hour, Clint was relieved until that half hour had passed and then another and Phil hadn’t called.

"Where were you?" Clint asked, voice betraying the worry he had felt.

"I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to make you worry. The suspect broke my phone, and my car broke down, I had to hail a taxi" Phil explained.

"You're ruining the carpet!" Tony complained, coming into the room from the kitchen.

"I'm going to our room, calm down Stark" Phil replied, turning on his heel.

"Where's Dolly?" Clint asked, looking at the billionaire.

"Steve took her when you started to pace in a line last I saw her" Stark replied. Clint headed out of the room to go find Steve; Dolly would like seeing her other Daddy now that he was home. Steve was sketching a sleeping Dolly when Clint found them. Steve smiled at him, letting him take Dolly, assuring him he'd finish the sketch later.

XXX

Phil's in the bathroom when Clint enters their rooms, Phil had officially moved in a month ago, but it wasn’t really much of a change since he usually slept over anyway. Clint expected to find his lover dressed in dry clothes, hair still slightly damp. What he hadn’t expected was the tiny white and gray kitten sitting calmly in the sink while Phil rubbed some of Dolly's shampoo into its fur.

"Did I step into an alternate universe?" Clint asked, blinking at the scene in front of him. The sad thing, he actually wouldn’t be surprised if he had entered an alternate world. When did that become his life, seriously?

"No. I found it behind a bunch of boxes while waiting for a taxi. It was soaked and shivering, I couldn't just leave it there. It was in my coat pocket" Phil explained, rinsing the soap out of the now clean fur with a cupped hand full of water.

"And you decided to just bring it home?" Clint asked, arms crossing over his chest.

"What did you want me to do with it?" Phil asked.

"I don't know, leave it there, take it to the pound, as long as you didn't bring it home" Clint replied.

"I know you don't really like cats, but I do and it's just a kitten it would have died out there,” Phil said.

"Fine keep it, but I'm not taking care of it" Clint told him, turning on his heel and leaving the room. Dolly watched as her human walked away before turning back to Phil, watching as he pulled the small creature out of the sink and wrapped it in a towel.

Dolly sat up on her hind legs so Phil could pet her when he walked by, but he simply went on drying the fur of the kitten he held. Dolly followed, resting her head on Phil's knee when he sat on the bed, watching as the kitten explored, happily letting Phil pet her absently.

XXX

As the days went by, Dolly started acting weird, she would bark at seemingly nothing, jumping up to put her front paws on Phil when he was standing, jumping onto his lap when he was sitting down, and had started chewing on his shoes.

Phil was petting the kitten he had named Gizmo, who was lying in his lap and purring loudly, and kneading at his leg, eyes closed in bliss. Dolly jumped onto the couch, causing Gizmo to slide off his lap. Dolly rolled onto her back, head in Phil's lap, causing the man to smile and pet her belly with one hand while he went back to petting the kitten now laying on the couch with the remaining one.

Later when it was time for bed, Dolly laid in the spot between Phil and Clint, leaving Phil pressed to the wall and Clint with very little room to keep himself from falling off the edge and the kitten at the bottom of the bed. Clint smiled and kissed the top of her head before scratching behind one ear and closing his eyes. Phil pet from her neck down to the base of her tail before wrapping the arm loosely around her middle.

XXX

After a month of the odd behavior Phil got worried, Dolly had chewed and destroyed ten pairs of his shoes, including slippers and sneakers. She slept between him and Clint every night, and had taken to following him around instead of Clint. So he took the day off work and made an appointment for Dolly with the vet.

"Dolly Barton" the receptionist called and Phil stood up, Dolly following him into the room the receptionist lead them to.

"Hello Dolly, Mr. Coulson" the vet greeted when she entered the room. She was a tall brown haired woman in her late thirties with wisps of gray through her short hair.

"Hello Dr. Moore" Phil greeted in return.

"You said you were worried about her on the phone, what's wrong?" Dr. Moore asked, sitting on the stool in the room.

"She's been acting odd for about a month. She barks at nothing, she's started jumping on my lap even when I have something in it and jumping up on me. She sleeps between Clint and me every night instead of at the foot of the bed like usual. She's been chewing on my shoes, nobody else’s, just mine and she's never chewed shoes before. And she stopped following Clint around and started following me" Phil explained. Dr. Moore nodded.

"Has anything changed at home recently? Someone new in the house, you and Clint fighting, anything like that?" she asked.

"I got a kitten a month ago" Phil replied and the vet nodded again with a smile.

"No need to worry. Those are common signs of jealousy in a dog, she's doing everything she can to take your attention from the new kitten and give it to her instead. She probably just feels as if she's being replaced, just give her as much affection as you did before the cat without ignoring the cat as well and she'll stop" Dr. Moore replied.

"I didn't mean to make her feel ignored,” Phil told the woman, looking at Dolly as he pet her head.

"I know you didn’t. It happens sometimes when people get another pet with a dog around. Dogs are social creatures; they need lots of attention and love. You're a good owner Mr. Coulson, you just made a mistake" she smiled.

"Thank you for seeing her" Phil nodded.

"It was no trouble at all, it's always a pleasure to see Dolly" she replied waving as they left the room.

After a week the jealousy behavior stopped and Dolly began to accept Gizmo as part of the household.

**Author's Note:**

> This is what I picture Gizmo looking like. http://www.warrenphotographic.co.uk/13136-grey-and-white-kitten-lying-down


End file.
